Moonacre High School
by jackfrostishot
Summary: Modern AU. When Maria enters her new high school, she is lost until she defends a girl from school bully and Goth jock Robin de Noir. Unfortunately, she makes an enemy of him. What she doesn't know is that he begins to love her. But an abusive father and a mother who left when he was a baby has left him with no knowledge of love. Can they work it out or will they be forever apart?


**A/N: My new story! I know, I know, I should keep working on TCOM, but I had the idea and I couldn't resist! I've got maybe half of it already planned out. Oh, and someone PM me and tell me if removing a document after you've made it into a chapter will remove the chapter too. That would be bad, as I don't want to have too many documents, but I don't want to lose any chapters either. Anywho, here you go!**

Chapter One

Maria's POV

I apprehensively walked through the door of my new high school on the first day of my sophomore year. I was greeted with a cacophony of students getting ready for their classes. Nervously, I looked around, trying to find one friendly face.

It was a good thing I had had orientation the day before and had been shown where my classes would be. Otherwise I would have been lost in this maze of new faces, sights, and smells. You see, I had been homeschooled all my life by my father and my guardian Miss Heliotrope. But now Papa was dead and I had gone to live with my uncle, Sir Benjamin Merryweather.

As I stared around at the unfamiliar faces, I saw something that made me want to punch something. Or someone. I marched over to where four boys dressed in black were ganging up on a scrawny girl with mousy brown hair and a terrified expression. I opened my mouth to give them a piece of my mind.

"What do you think you doing, picking on a freshman like that?!" I demanded fiercely. "That's real cowardly, just to trap her and attack her like that. Why don't you pick on someone your own size, jerks!"

"Well, boys, look what we have here! We set a trap for one 'out' girl and we caught two!" the leader, a curly haired boy with a ridiculous bowler, two scarves, and badly put on eyeliner, laughed. "That's girls for ya. Can't resist coming to help someone. So you mean someone like _you_, carrot top?!"

"Better me that her," I said bravely. "And I am proud of my red hair. You can't get to me that way. What are you going to try next, dorkface?"

Maybe it's not a good idea to call a tough looking boy in black who seems quite ready to punch you a dorkface, but I didn't really care. The look on his face went from shocked to angry to dangerously calm.

"You'll regret the day you crossed Robin de Noir," he spat at me and walked off. The other three members of his gang followed him. I was glad to see him go.

"If you say so, _doltface_!" I called after him. I wasn't sure why I called him that instead of a dork, but it worked. As I watched, he stiffened for a fraction of a second, but it was gone as quickly as it came. I decided I had imagined it. I turned to the girl they had been teasing.

"You okay?" I asked her gently. She looked like a startled rabbit, ready to run at any second. "I won't let them hurt you. They're jerks and idiots who probably can't even spell they're own name.

The girl smiled. "Thanks. I'm Serena. And I'm actually a sophomore," she told me. Already she looked happier for having found a friend. And I would make sure she would always have one.

"I'm Maria. I just moved here," I said, happy as well for her company.

"It's nice to meet you," Serena said. "You need to watch out for Robin's gang, though. They were mean to me last year. And the year before. And the year before that. Let's just say they've been mean to me since Pre-K."

"Well, now they can be mean to me instead," I declared. "They don't just get to be mean to you and get away with it. Not on my watch. If they hurt so much as a hair on your head, or are mean to you in the slightest way, just call me and I'll be there _right away_."

"Thank you, Maria," Serena said again. "You're the first friend I've ever had. All the other kids avoid me because Robin and his gang hate me. Not only are they Goth bullies, they're also mega-jocks."

"Scary combination," I agreed. "So they hold most of the sway over the school?"

"Exactly," she replied. "Them and the cheerleaders. And, of course, every girl in the school has fallen head over heels in love with him. He _is_ rather cute."

"If say so…" I told her. "He's a dork in a bowler with badly put on eyeliner and an attitude bigger than he is. In other words, he's an arrogant so-and-so."

"Do you really think so?" Serena asked. "I mean, he's a complete jerk, but he's still a hot complete jerk. Those long lashes and that thick curly hair…"

She stared dreamily into the distance. I snapped my fingers a few times in front of her face. No luck. Just then the bell rang and I dragged her off to class.

Unfortunately, it was homeroom and all the grades were in the same room. This meant I was stuck with Robin Dorkface and his gang. Yay. Please note my sarcasm. Plus it was the sort where people could 'socialize and make new friends'. At least, that's how the overly happy secretary who did my orientation put it. This was not going to be fun _at all_.

As I settled down near Serena to study a little before math, Robin came over to tell me something

"Don't _ever_ call me a doltface," he hissed. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way entirely. You got that?"

"Sure, _dorkface_," I drawled, though I wondered what was wrong with me calling him a doltface. I mean, I knew it was mean, but honestly, I hadn't meant to actually hurt his feelings. Well, not exactly that. More like I figured it wouldn't hurt his feelings. Maybe I actually _had_ wanted to hurt his feelings. I wasn't sure.

But I did know this much: I would do my best to drive him crazy.


End file.
